J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 265, Issue 17, 9842-9849, 06, 1990
Purification and characterization of a microbial, NADP-dependent bile acid 7 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase
CV Franklund, P de Prada and PB Hylemon
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23298-0678.
A constitutively expressed 7 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (7
alpha-HSDH) has been purified over 1200-fold, to apparent homogeneity, from
an intestinal anaerobic bacterium. The purified protein had a subunit
molecular mass of 32 kDa as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate-
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Sepharose CL-6B gel filtration gave a
native molecular mass estimate of 124 kDa, suggesting that this enzyme
existed as a tetramer of identical subunits. Sulfhydryl reactive compounds
were potent inhibitors of 7 alpha-HSDH activity, however, metal ion
chelators had no effect upon catalytic activity. The purified enzyme was
highly NADP-dependent. Bile acid substrate utilization studies revealed
that the enzyme was specific for the oxidation of an unhindered 7
alpha-hydroxyl group. A wide variety of bile acids and analogs were used as
substrates including glycine and taurine conjugates, and methyl esters,
amines, and bile alcohols. The purified 7 alpha-HSDH obeyed
Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Hanes plots of substrate saturation kinetics
revealed that most bile acid substrates had Km values ranging from 4 to 20
microM, while Vmax was 601 and 674 mumol/min/mg in the direction of bile
acid oxidation and reduction, respectively. Primary kinetic plots and
product inhibition patterns were consistent with an ordered sequential
mechanism, with NADP(H) binding first. The N-terminal amino acid sequence
analysis of the purified enzyme revealed a striking homology to several
short, non-zinc alcohol/polyol dehydrogenases and a putative,
cholate-inducible, hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase from the same organism. The
high specific activity together with the stability, substrate range, and
ease of purification, make this enzyme an excellent candidate for use in
quantitating primary bile acids both in laboratory and clinical samples.
Spectrofluorometry allowed for the quantitation of as little as 10 nM of
both free and conjugated primary bile acids.